Bernie Taupin Is A Godawful Lyricist Whose Lyrics Sound Amazing Coming Out Of Elton John's Mouth — ILM ARTIST POLL #41: ELTON JOHN

13. "Philadelphia Freedom" (1974) [325 points, 13 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhJHL34DiBY

Sorry, 1975.

TOO TOOOOOOOOOOO LOW

12. "Madman Across The Water" (1971) [345 points, 14 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iccMG7drduQ

Original "Grey Seal" not on youtube? I couldn't find it via a quick google.

I kinda prefer the first half of the original (the low key intro on electric piano and the minimal arrangement for the first verse works better IMO) and then the second half of the GYBR version. In fact I once made a splice of those two halves for an EJ mixtape.

Xxpost LOH OH OH OOH OOH OH OH HOO OH HOW

"Grey Seal" in my top ten; it's the peak of Taupin-nonsense.

I dunno HOW I forgot Philadelphia Freedom.

One of my favorite bits of bass playing in an Elton song ("Madman").

Different strokes, etc. The lacunae in "Mona Lisas" are precisely why I find tje track so thrilling

love how on "Philadelphia Freedom" Elton swoops up and down so much, from just about growling in the verses, to falsetto in the chorus.

does Elton do the backing vocals on the verses?

11. "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)" (1973) [363 points, 16 votes, 1 first place vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93JvHkdYNNw

sorry but I have to do this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ecakrMaxkY

haha

I screened Fandango the other night, and thought of this poll when the opening credits came up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9D5mdq07uc

That was totally my introduction to that song, lol. Shockingly low imo.

Xpost

Madman is my first really traumatic Taupin experience. dug the song before I started paying attention

Philadelphia Freedom and Saturday Night are great obviously. too low, both of them

It's got a fantastic guitar riff, good energy. Elton should've tried more uptempo glam/rock stuff when he had the opportunity.

Here's another link for the Spotify playlist - http://spoti.fi/1576dgG - so catch up and get ready for the top 10. I'll brb.

11 	Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting 	1 	16 	363
12 	Madman Across The Water 	1 	14 	345
13 	Philadelphia Freedom 	1 	13 	325
14 	Grey Seal 		14 	306
15 	Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters 	2 	12 	302
16 	The Bitch Is Back 		15 	293
17 	Take Me To The Pilot 		14 	286
18 	Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word 	1 	12 	261
19 	Don't Go Breaking My Heart 		12 	261
20 	Honky Cat 		13 	254
21 	Burn Down The Mission 	1 	9 	244
22 	Daniel 		11 	219
23 	Elderberry Wine 	1 	9 	214
24 	Candle In The Wind 		11 	201
25 	Sacrifice 		9 	183
26 	Amoreena 	1 	8 	173
27 	Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me 		7 	147
28 	Tower Of Babel 		6 	139
29 	Harmony 		5 	138
30 	Captain Fantastic And The Brown Dirt Cowboy 		6 	131
31 	All The Girls Love Alice 		7 	129
32 	The Ballad Of Danny Bailey 		5 	124
33 	I Don't Wanna Go On With You Like That 		7 	123
34 	Mellow 		7 	115
35 	Crocodile Rock 		5 	113
36 	My Father's Gun 		5 	111
37 	High Flying Bird 		4 	108
38 	I've Seen That Movie Too 		5 	95
39 	Razor Face 		4 	93
40 	I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford) 		5 	90
41 	The Last Song 		4 	89
42 	We All Fall In Love Sometimes 	1 	3 	87
43 	Where To Now St. Peter? 		4 	85
44 	Island Girl 		5 	84
45 	Are You Ready For Love? 		4 	83
45 	Holiday Inn 		4 	83
47 	Blue Eyes 		3 	83
48 	Border Song 		5 	82
49 	Too Low For Zero 		4 	81
50 	Little Jeannie 		4 	73

Baaaaaaffled by ''Madman'' placing this high! Okay album track, great title, but I can't even remember how half of it goes.

It's funny - I don't really remember hearing ''Philadelphia Freedom'' or ''Bitch is Back'' until I was an adult, though both were hits. I suspect southern classic rock radio has little use for these two glammiest, showiest, campiest, vampiest out-n-proudest (but not) Elton numbers. I can easily foresee me only getting more in love with both.

Sadly, I have found myself unable to un-hear ''As I live and breathe, it's Philadelphia Cream Cheese!'' from the day that it first occurred to me.

"Philadelphia Freedom"
so much better at this bubblegum disco stuff than the overwrought theatrical ballads. still can't get past Taupin's tendency to use signifiers he seemingly has no understanding or grasp of, but it's a little more forgivable on pop fluff like this. this has kind of a disco-version of Proud Mary feel to it, as much because for the vocal mannerisms as the music and lyrical sentiments. 5 1/2 minutes of this is too much tho.

"Madman Across The Water"
more cowbell.

"Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)"
heard this one before. it's okay but another one that just sounds like a Bowie rip (Suffragete City maybe?) to me. lol @ Elton pretending to be a street fightin man. wtf is this 8 minute version, this song should be 2 1/2 minutes tops.

what mix are you listening to?

btw glam Bowie only got as good as Elton did with "Saturday Night" in "Watch That Man."

it's a GOOD bowie rip!

"mona lisas and mad hatters" was my #1, and i'm surprised it didn't make the top 10. it's all about that two-part harmony on the chorus. it's a really beautiful ballad melody throughout, and a great vocal performance. i've never had a clue what it was about, and i never cared.

Baaaaaaffled by ''Madman'' placing this high!

tbh i'm more baffled that "Levon" is slated to place Top 10.

"sorry seems" was high for me too. there's a live solo performance on the voting thread, from carson's "tonight show" I think, that completely melted me and kicked it up several spots.

xpost ILX wears war wounds like crowns.

alvin tostig had a poll today...

"Madman" now and forever

this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppKem3YLvFo

The ILX Times said 'Geir Is Dead'.

xp yes that one!

shakie mo's "lack of depth" hetero-rockist criticisms itt have less substance and are becoming more grating than any elton schmaltz represented herein

what mix are you listening to?

I'm just goin off the youtubes in the thread

hetero-rockist?

being gay /= being shallow

Wasn't Elton hetero during most of these tunes? Not rockist I'll grant you.

"shallow" as a criticism is meaningless and is usually a cover-up for "female" or "gay"

xp Never realized those hits in "Madman" were cowbell. That might just be from the live version posted here (which f'in owns btw).

I don't mind Shakey playing Waldorf, and glad he offers at times musicological reasons for disagreeing, but the way you harp on about lyrics -- on an Elton John thread where every contributor has made peace with Taupin's often stupid words -- annoys me, yes.

Also, you're giving Bowie too much credit for depth.

or, rather, by comparing the two implying that Elton John is the shallow one.

hetero-rockist?

i.e. elton john just doesn't get american song tradition blah blah. well he gets it a lot more than you apparently do if you're calling the opening lick in honky cat "chinese," wtf

I didn't hear "The Bitch Is Back" much growing up but now it seems like one of his mosy played songs on at least my local classic rock station

my boss told me that "The Bitch is Back" and "Rich Girl" were favorites when he was in high school because he got to say "bitch" sitting in the back seat while one of those songs played.

10. "Your Song" (1970) [365 points, 13 votes, 2 first place votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTa8U0Wa0q8

xp he said faux chinese, and i've always heard it that way too.

"shallow" as a criticism is meaningless and is usually a cover-up for "female" or "gay"

thought I was being pretty clear that I was referring to Taupin's tendency to throw around referents, symbols, and cliches without any apparent grasp of what they actually mean or refer to (see pretty much any reference to American geography or history), and to his tendency to write characters who have one trait or emotional state and that's it. there's no "twists" in any of these characters or stories, nothing that has any mystery or ambiguity or requires a little thought to tease out what's really being gotten at. there's plenty of random imagery thrown around but its all a bunch of noise obscuring the fact that Taupin can't write a narrative that contains anything other than the most basic elements (tragic protagonist is tragic! jilted lover feels jilted!) I can rattle off scores of GAY and FEMALE songwriters, from this era as well, who do this shit better (Lou Reed and Joni Mitchell spring to mind) and am kind of offended at the implication that I'm attempting to disguise some bias here.

xp

i think there's something distinct and weird about the way ej inhabits these traditions that's very of its time, all shakey seems to hear is violations of authenticity + wishing e.j. was something else altogether. xp

come on, that's ragtime

but then again, NO PLEASE NOT THAT ONE

xp

as for bernie and the lyrics, not everyone cares as much about Creative Writing rules as you do